As someone that was supposed to be born on Christmas Eve, I arrived early, and my Mom would tell you it was because John Lennon was killed and she was highly stressed from the event. Regardless, I was named after Christmas and as a result there’s not a scrooge bone in my body.

I feel very fortunate to be First-Generation German Canadian, my parents never diluted their traditions for us, never Anglicized our Christmas or caved to North American commercialism. We celebrate on the 24th and I still celebrate on the Eve. There was no Santa, we had the ‘Christ Child’, and would leave our windows open so baby Jesus could fly in and drop off presents. So German, we love to air out the house with open windows, I swear this is just an excuse for that :) 

We would dress up in our finest and head downtown to attend Midnight Mass usually at the Christchurch Cathedral which is Anglican but felt like Europe to us Germans in a new world. I’d usually get in trouble for either bringing scratch & win tickets for the collection basket or flirting with a cute boy in the neighbouring pew….every year my family would remark that the pastor took a bit longer blessing me at communion.

There is nothing like a cathedral filled with song, midnight mass is truly a wonderful experience. As children we were so tired and wired by the time we drove back to Metchosin after mass, and would open our presents that night, properly freezing from the windows being left open. 

Mom Stack was raised in one of Germany’s finest and strictest finishing schools, and could run circles around Martha Stewart. Elaborate meals and treats were had, homemade stollen with homemade marzipan!, German Weisswurst, rouladen, potato dumplings, Bavarian gingerbread, weird liquorice, Black Forest cake, she made it happily and we loved it. 

No matter where I’ve celebrated Christmas I’ve made rouladen at Christmas time, and still do. Thinly sliced beef filled with pickles, caraway, onions and mustard, seared and simmered for hours. The BEST, followed by a homemade pie filled with plums, orange rind and ground cloves. The smell of caraway or cloves always reminds me of Christmas. 

We make pomanders, oranges that are decorated with clove sticks in elaborate patterns, tied with a bow. At some point my mother would sing some opera at Christmas as we gather around. We always drink champagne and it’s not German Christmas if you don’t pay homage to the horrors of war, replaying the stories of hardship and famine, reflecting on how lucky we all were to be in Canada, celebrating in a warm home with no bombs overhead. 

Dad Stack would always remind us he hadn’t seen an orange until he came to Canada, how he’d have to stick his feet in cow patties to keep them warm as they fled the Russian front, how he spent Christmas picking through bombing rubble to look for his family members. Mom Stack would remind us she was raised by nuns between an orphanage and a finishing school. The long road from post war Germany to life as we knew it in Metchosin was filled with loss and REAL hardship, and it was not lost on us. 

Having parents that lived through WW2 and its aftermath made the luxuries and comforts of Christmas feel extra special. We weren’t so much tough by proxy, but having your parents tell you first hand that they survived a near apocalypse puts things into perspective. My family didn’t have to walk to school uphill both ways, they had to walk across SEVERAL countries to stay alive, losing family along the way. We didn’t play Oregon trail, we lived it. 

As a women who owns my own Real Estate firm and my own house in the best city and country in the world, I feel very fortunate and have so much to be grateful for. I owe it all to my parents who against all odds made to Canada, found each other and raised us in beautiful Metchosin. I am forever greatful for this life. 

We celebrated this Christmas with a new addition to the family! He arrived yesterday at 10 weeks old, my first boy corgi and I am so in love! I also got a new haircut - I think we look related! haha. No names yet but he might be named Harry or Henry….

Frohe Weihnachten (Merry Christmas)!

xoxo Christina-Luise Stach (Christina Stack)